This story appeared in the Antelope Valley Press January 25, 2002.

By DENNIS ANDERSON
Valley Press Editor

PALMDALE - Instead of fighting taxes, officers of a growing Republican club were dodging tacks. It became a metaphor for the night, for the political battle with local Democrats and, for that matter, with other Republicans.

A couple of years ago, the Antelope Valley Chapter of the California Congress of Republicans played to a smaller room.

In a quaint bistro in Lancaster, in 1999, about nine people showed up for the group's first installation dinner. They were the usual suspects, representatives handing over certificates of recognition from local elected politicians, "and two of them were Democrats."

At least, that's the way Lew Stults told the joke on Wednesday night.

Stults is spear carrier for Rep. Howard P. "Buck" McKeon, and he was having a bit of a good-natured joke on Lawrence Hales, outgoing president of the Republican club.

Hales looked across a packed room, filled Wednesday night with dozens of GOP activists, and he saw that the work had come a long way since the 1999 meeting.

"I'm glad to see that the vision was there to see the need for another Republican club where people can respect each others' values.

"If you're a Republican, you believe in individual freedom. You have to have economic and individual freedom to make our system work."

Hales, a local attorney, founded the AV chapter in 1998. He handed the gavel on Wednesday to Dean Henderson. Henderson is a mortgage broker, Palmdale planning commissioner and sorcerer's apprentice to former state GOP Chairman Frank Visco.

"It's time for me to find others who want to get involved," Visco said.

The main mission of the California Congress of Republicans membership is to follow the Ronald Reagan commandment, "Thou shalt not speak ill of another Republican." At least, refrain from doing that once the primary battle is settled.

That word came from Dennis Catron, the state president of the group who traveled from Temecula to greet Hales, Henderson and a room full of well-wishers.

Guests ranged from strong, conservative Antelope Valley Republican Assembly types like AVRA President June Spencer and Central Committee Chairman Randy Hall, to a bunch who are more of the moderate Republican creed.

The California Congress of Republicans urges GOP members to set aside differences of opinion on social and religious policy, hot-button issues like abortion or gun control, and to find Republicans who can defeat Democrats.

Failure to find common ground among disunited Republicans helped put two Democrats in the U.S. Senate, elect a Democratic governor - Gray Davis - in the Statehouse and entrench a Democratic majority in both houses of the Legislature, he said.

"We have a good chance to win this governor's race, because this governor has done a terrible job and doesn't tell the truth," Catron said.

Henderson said he joins any organization with "GOP" in the initials, and he hopes to make the Antelope Valley chapter of the congress an incubator for fresh candidates and a clearinghouse for Republican marketing strategies.

All this was going along nicely until Rita Burleson, the mistress of ceremonies, encountered a box of thumbtacks that spilled anywhere and everywhere around the speaker's podium.

Hales seized the moment to let Henderson know what he's in for.

"A sea of tacks is a metaphor for political life, Dean," Hales said. "It's what you do when you step on the tacks, when that sharp pain pierces your foot, that decides how things are going to go.

"And, Dean, you can never clean up all the tacks."

Officers taking the oath for 2002 were Henderson; Shirley Husar, first vice president; Secretary Timothy Kimbrough; and Treasurer Milton Huckaby. Directors for 2002 are Wilda Andrejcik, Jan Davis, Richard Loa, Isaac Barcelona, Patti Holt, Mike Dispenza, Rick Norris and Shawny Barcelona.